Electronic Castlevania II: Simon's Quest
A Tiger Electronics handheld interpretation of Castlevania II: Simon's Quest. It is similar to the Simon's Quest LCD watch game, but has greater depth. Story The story of this game is essentially the same as the story of the original Simon's Quest for the Nintendo Entertainment System. Simon's goal is to destroy the curse, although the manual does not describe why he must do so, and does involve the need to gather up Dracula's relics in order to do so. The manual story describes elements of the original game which do not appear in this game, such as certain creatures, locations, purchasing items and getting hints from villagers. Gallery LCD SQ Simon Back.JPG|Simon Belmont The hero of the game. He sets out to destroy Dracula's curse and is armed with a flame whip and a set of silver knives. LCD SQ Dracula.JPG|Dracula The villain of the game. He appears at the end of the game. Can only be damaged with high hits to the head. You must also use a silver knife to finish him off. LCD SQ Bat.JPG|Bat An unlimited amount of bats will flutter above you in each stage. They will only attack you when you are in the air and it is possible to jump into them. They can only be attacked when jumping. LCD SQ Fire Ghost.JPG|Fire Ghost Only appear during night and float toward you from behind. LCD SQ Ghost.JPG|Ghost They come in from behind but do not attack you. They are only vulnerable to high attacks to the head. While they are not a threat, all ghosts must be destroyed before it will become night time. LCD SQ Monster Fish.JPG|Monster Fish The only monsters that can be found in day or night, these are present in all stages. They rise up in front of you and shoot fireballs. They block your path forward and cannot be jumped over. Being rather short creatures, these can only be damaged with low attacks. LCD SQ Monster Dragon.JPG|Monster Dragon Essentially, a monster fish with wings that inhabit caste areas. They can fire two fireballs in rapid succession. A good target for a silver knife, which can destroy them in one hit. LCD SQ Skeleton.JPG|Skeleton Only appear at night and appear behind you. They toss bones at you in an arcing pattern. In later stages, they are equipped with a shield which must be destroyed first before you can destroy the skeleton. LCD SQ Vampire Bat.JPG|Vampire Bat They flutter around above and in front of you and are indistinguishable from normal bats until they are right in front of you. Then they will swoop down and attack you when you are on the ground or in the air. They only appear during night. LCD SQ The Hand.JPG|The Hand Hands start appearing at the graveyard stage at night and are in each subsequent stage. They appear from the ground and wave around, causing damage. They cannot be destroyed. They only impede your movement forward and must be jumped over. Lcdwhip.jpg|Flame Whip lcdsword.jpg|Silver Knife Arsenal *Flame Whip - Simon starts his quest with the flame whip, which was the strongest whip found in the original NES game. It can be whipped up or down by pressing the UP or DOWN buttons in the direction he is facing. It can also be whipped while jumping. *Silver Knife - Also called a sword. Simon has a limited number of these at his disposal and they are thrown forward in the direction he is facing with a button. A silver knife can destroy any enemy in one shot except for Dracula, but must be used to finish him off. He starts the quest with four silver knives and can gain four more by destroying a Crystal Ball. *Crystal Ball - These appear periodically and will give you four silver knives, refill your life bar, and are worth 50 points. You obtain them by whipping them right away, as they will disappear shortly after appearing. Stages *'The Forest' - During the day, bats, a ghost, and a monster fish appear. When night comes, bats, vampire bats, monster fish, and skeletons must be faced. Two of each non-bat enemy appear at night. *'The Graveyard' - The same enemies that fought you in the forest in day and night also appear here. During night, Fire Ghosts also appear and hands try to grab you and hold you in place. Two of each enemy appear during the day, and four of each during the night. *'The Castle' - This stage only is fought during night. All the monsters you had faced before appear here and also Monster Dragons must be fought. Six of each enemies must be defeated. Water traps which must be jumped over also must be contended with. *'The Castlevania' - The final stage is similar to the Castle, and eight of each enemy must be defeated. The stage also features moving platforms which takes Simon over some watery areas. The game ends with fighting the Great Dracula's Curse, which takes the form of Dracula. Enemy Data Differences from the LCD watch version The basic gameplay and enemies fought were similar from the Simon's Quest LCD watch game, which had been released earlier in 1988 or at the same time. It has many subtle differences from that game. The LCD handheld game has many more buttons at its disposal, four on the left side, arranged in a directional pattern, and three on the right. The watch game only had a LEFT, CENTER, and RIGHT buttons to work with. This handheld version gave Simon many more options, including: *Separate buttons now exist for movements and whipping. He can now face backwards by pressing LEFT and must reface forwards by pressing RIGHT afterward in order to move forward again. In the watch version, he destroyed enemies behind him by pressing the the LEFT button, but did not actually change the direction he faced. Now, to destroy enemies behind him, he must first face left and then attack with the whip. *He can now aim his whip high or low in the direction he is facing. Pressing the UP button attacks high, while pressing the DOWN button attacks low. He only whips low when jumping. *Simon now has Silver Knives added to his arsenal which can be used at any time in the game when he has one. A button on the right is designated for using a silver dagger. Obtaining crystals now also gives him additional Silver Daggers. *There is now a button that can be pressed that will move him forwards and jump at the same time. This can be used to jump over obstacles such as hands, jaws or water traps. Most enemies appearances and attack patterns in this game are the same as they were in the LCD version, but with the following differences: *Skeletons without shields have been replaced with Ghosts, which have a skeleton's skull, but not its body. *All skeletons are now initially armed with shields. You must first destroy the shield before you can destroy the skeleton. *The flying monster has been replaced with a vampire bat, which is otherwise the same. *Hands now appear from underneath Simon which hold him in place but do not do damage. *Jaws now appear in front of Simon that do not do damage, but block his path and must be jumped over. *Dracula must now be struck with a silver knife in order to finish him off. The number of hits, point value, and frequency of enemies has changed as follows: *There is now a day/night cycle in the game. Enemies take more hits to destroy during night. The first two stages first have a day stage with one set of enemies, followed by a night stage with another set of enemies. The last two stages always take place at night. *In the watch game, all enemies used to be able to be killed in one hit, or their more powerful version in two hits. The number of hits between enemies varies a lot more now, with Skeletons and Mermen now taking more hits than they did before. A Monster Dragon now takes as many hits to destroy as it does to destroy Dracula (10 hits). *Any enemy can be destroyed by a single silver knife regardless of how many whip hits they normally take, except for Dracula. *The number and types of enemies are now different for each stage than they were in the watch game. There are generally a smaller number of enemies in a stage than there was in the watch game to offset the greater amount of hits some enemies can take. *All enemies are now worth 20 points regardless of how many hits it takes to kill them, with the exception of a bat (10 points) and Dracula (50 points). Trivia *This product was only available in Toys "R" Us retailers and has been sold out for over ten years. Related products *''Castlevania II: Simon's Quest'' — The original game this version was based on. *''Castlevania II: Simon's Quest'' (watch) — A similar game on LCD wrist watch format by Tiger Electronics. *''Castlevania: Symphony of the Night'' (handheld) — The next Castlevania handheld game in LCD format by Tiger Electronics. External links * — The game is also featured in this fan-made release for Windows. *IGN *Japanese version scans (Castlevania Realm) *Scans (Castlevania Realm) de:Electronic Castlevania II: Simon's Quest es:Electronic Castlevania II: Simon's Quest Category:Handheld LCD games Category:LCD Simon's Quest